Turkey to be plentiful but more costly

Not to worry, turkey fans. You won’t have to substitute meatloaf for the big bird this Thanksgiving. Despite rumors of a turkey shortage, there will be plenty to go around for all the holidays, says the Washington, D.C.-based National Turkey Federation. However, you may have to pay a bit more this year.

“The rumor of a turkey shortage probably got started because fewer turkeys were produced this year in the U.S. as a result of higher feed costs,” said NTF spokeswoman Sherrie Rosenblatt.

However, fewer birds doesn’t necessarily translate into fewer whole turkeys for our holiday feasts. She explained that lower turkey production most likely means there is less of other forms of turkey, including ground turkey and turkey cutlets.

“There should be lots of turkey available this year, but we’re going to have to pay a higher price than we did last year when we saw some of the lowest prices in decades,” said Tom Elam, an agricultural economist in Indiana.

In 2009, there was an overstock of frozen turkeys left over from the previous year which brought prices down to as low as 40 cents per pound. The current cold storage of frozen turkeys is down compared to last year so consumers will end up paying more for their whole bird, but nothing extreme.

“The national average turkey wholesale prices are up by about 25 percent this year, so you can expect to see turkeys costing 69, 79, 89 cents (per pound),” Elam said. “It’s more than last year, but compared to other years, it’s very normal.”